The WE2ST Center was an-

nounced on April 24, 2014 at

CSM after special presentations

by Samer Adham and Terri

Hogue. Fran Vallejo from

ConocoPhillips presented a

check for three-million dollars to

CSM President Bill Scoggins, CSM

Foundation member Kim Senger,

and WE2ST director Terri

Hogue. The kickoff ceremony

was part of the annual Mines

Alumni weekend.

Four initial research thrusts for

WE2ST are currently underway.

Dr. Terri Hogue is leading the

initiative to evaluate water sourc-

ing for unconventional energy

and regional water budgets. Dr.

John McCray is focusing on inte-

grated water resource manage-

ment including contamination of

groundwater via leaks/spills. Dr.

Tzahi Cath’s research centers on

treatment and reuse of flow back

and produced waters. Dr. Jessica

Rolston is conducting social sci-

ence and policy research. She is

investigating the Memorandums

of Understanding (MOUs) that

are on the rise in Colorado as a

strategy to meet the needs of

both industry and communities.

MOUs are signed directly be-

tween companies and local gov-

ernments and typically guarantee

increased certainty in permitting

in exchange for stricter environ-

mental and reporting standards.

Rolston’s team is using multidisci-

plinary methods to investigate

how the public views MOUs, if

the presence of MOUs increases

public trust of industry, and if

wells permitted through MOUs

demonstrate significantly differ-

ent environmental and safety

performance.

ConocoPhillips presents WE2ST with a giant check

WE2ST Center Kicks-Off to a Great Start

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Undergradu-

ate Scholars

2

Graduate

Fellows

2

Curriculum

Corner

2

Media Days 3

GSA 3

Education

Outreach

3

Upcoming

Events

4

Water-Energy Research Begins

C O L O R A D O S C H O O L

O F M I N E S

ConocoPhillips Center for a Sustainable

WE2ST

Water-Energy Education, Science and Technology

F A L L 2 0 1 4

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

WE2ST officially

begins its first

semester

8 phenomenal

Undergraduate

Scholars are

selected

ConocoPhillips

Media Days

comes to CSM

WE2ST Fellows

and Scholars

participate in a

myriad of

education and

outreach

activities

Cynthia Kanno and Austin

Roberts modeling degrada-

tion of contaminants in the

subsurface

Kathryn Casias

putting a pump head

on a motor

P A G E 2

“Chris spends part

of his time each

week helping to

teach pre-

engineering at two

Denver high

schools”

Spotlight on Graduate Fellows

New Graduate Curriculum Added

Undergraduate Scholars Selected

This fall, eight Undergraduate

Scholars were selected after a

rigorous application and inter-

view process: Aspen Ander-

son, a sophomore in Geophys-

ical Engineering; Kathryn

Casias, a junior in Environmen-

tal Engineering; Kylie Ford, a

sophomore in Chemical Engi-

neering; Carley Lauer, a soph-

omore in Chemical and Biolog-

ical Engineering; Austin Rob-

erts, a junior in Chemical and

Biological Engineering; Luis

Servin, a junior in Petroleum

Engineering; Austin Shaffer, a

junior in Petroleum Engineer-

ing; and Seth Suydam, a junior

in Petroleum Engineering. All

Scholars are teamed up for re-

search with Graduate Fellows

and/or Faculty.

In addition,

Scholars attend

monthly training

sessions focusing

on research

skills, oral com-

munication train-

ing, and interper-

sonal skill build-

ing. These Un-

dergraduate Scholars have set

the bar very high this first se-

mester—they are definitely

some of the finest students at

CSM!

communication, research, and

interpersonal skills needed for

future professionals. Course

curriculum included specific

topics such as speaking/writing

for a variety of audiences, me-

dia relations, important re-

search and literature review

strategies, critical thinking and

analysis, mentoring, teamwork,

conflict management, and edu-

cation outreach.

This fall, all of the WE2ST Fel-

lows took a brand new gradu-

ate seminar course called Wa-

ter Sustainability and Energy

Production: A Survey and In-

troduction taught by Terri

Hogue and Andrea Blaine.

Students read and discussed

current research, heard from

key speakers in the field, and

engaged in a variety of practical

exercises to develop important

WE2ST as an affiliated Fellow.

He is funded by The Trefny In-

stitute as a Graduate Teaching

Fellow. As part of his Fellow-

ship, Chris spends part of his

time each week helping to

teach pre-engineering at two

Denver high schools.

Four fantastic graduate stu-

dents joined WE2ST this fall:

Liz Bell from Pennsylvania

State University with a B.S. in

Environmental Systems Engi-

neering, Cynthia Kanno

from Princeton University with

a B.A. in Geosciences, Ella

Walker from Oklahoma State

University with a B.S. in Chem-

ical Engineering, and Skylar Zil-

liox with a B.S. in Engineering

Physics from Colorado School

of Mines and a B.A. in Liberal

Arts from St. John’s College.

In addition, Chris Ruybal joined

Graduate Fellows at a

lunch with speaker Karl

Fennessey

Graduate students

demonstrate a 6th grade

outreach lab they created

on potential energy

Liz Bell adding feed

solution to the forward

osmosis bench scale system

Carley Lauer participates in Media Days

Chris Ruybal (second from

left) with high school pre-

engineering students

Aspen Anderson

explains erosion to

5th graders

ConocoPhillips Media Days at CSM P A G E 3

WE2ST students and faculty got to

stand in the spotlight, literally, for

two full days in October, thanks to

ConocoPhillips Media Training.

More than 20 participants first

studied both good and bad video

clips of industry representatives

being interviewed on the news.

They were then presented with a

hypothetical scenario of a hydrogen

sulfide leak from a

well and given a few

minutes to prepare a

statement. Next,

each person was

interviewed by pro-

fessional reporters

and filmed by a video

crew. After everyone

had a turn in the spotlight, the

group analyzed each other's clips to

discuss what worked and what

didn’t. Jim Lowry, Perry Pearce,

and Louis Salazar from ConocoPhil-

lips were in attendance as well as a

professional reporter and video

crew. The training was out of most

people’s comfort zone but ex-

tremely rewarding overall!

ton are extremely excited to have

the WE2ST students in the class-

room. Not only are the labs great

for the younger kids, but they also

help train the Scholars and Fellows

to communicate their science well.

This opportunity is helping to build

a great relationship between

WE2ST and the community; more

fun labs are scheduled for next

semester!

WE2ST is partnering with Shelton

Elementary School to bring some

fantastic hands-on science labs to

kids in Golden. In December,

Scholars and Fellows volunteered in

the Shelton Science Lab to help run

a 6th grade Mass-Volume-Density

lab, a 5th grade Revegetation lab, a

3rd grade Earthworm-Soils lab, and

a 2nd grade Animal Adaptations lab.

Teachers and students alike at Shel-

John McCray and Terri Hogue, along with several colleagues, developed and facilitated a special ses-sion on the Joint Sustainability of Water Resources and Petroleum Energy Production at the Geological Society of America (GSA) national meeting in Van-couver, British Columbia in October, 2014. The session featured 12 oral presenta-tions, including talks by Karl Fennessey from ConocoPhillips, Robert Horner from Argonne National Laboratories, Robert

Austin

Roberts

practices

his

interview

skills

WE2ST at the GSA Conference

Students Engage in Outreach at Local School

Luis Servin (left) and Seth Suydam (right) help 6th

graders at Shelton Science Lab

Media Days participants are instructed by

Jim Lowry, ConocoPhillips Director, Lower

48 Communications

Jackson from Stanford University and Bridget Scanlon from the University of Texas. WE2ST was also well-represented with presentations by Jes-sica Rolston, Tzahi Cath, John McCray and Terri Hogue.

A new space for WE2ST is under construction in Chauvenet

Hall. The finished center will house offices for the Assistant

Director, the Administrative Assistant and the Graduate Fel-

lows. In addition, there will be conference room that will hold

6-8 people. We hope to move in to our new center in the

middle of the spring semester!

1500 Illinois St.

Golden, CO 80401

E-mail: WE2ST@mines.edu

Website: WE2ST.mines.edu

The ConocoPhillips Center for a Sustainable

WE2ST at Colorado School of Mines was

formulated to promote the joint

sustainability of unconventional energy

production and water resources through

education of water-energy literate graduate

and undergraduate students and by

conducting world-class research on critical

topics in the field.

Colorado School of Mines

WE2ST Space Update

Leadership Team:

Terri Hogue, Director

John McCray, Deputy Director

Andrea Blaine, Assistant Director

Jessica Rolston, Community-Corporate Relations

Cynthia Howell, Public Outreach

Jackie Randell, Administrative Assistant

Advisory Board:

Fran Vallejo, ConocoPhillips

Samer Adham, ConocoPhillips

Sabrina Watkins, ConocoPhillips

Kim Senger, CSM Foundation

Kevin Moore, CSM, CECS Dean

Upcoming Events

The nation's "go-to" institution

for research, education and outreach

in the water-energy nexus

WE2ST

January 29, 3:30pm — Advisory Board meeting, CSM

February 4, 4pm, Seminar—Steve Crowell, PlusPetrol

February 11, 3pm, Seminar—Bridget Scanlon, UT Austin

February 25, 4pm, Seminar—Tisha Schuler, COGA

March 4, 3pm, Seminar—David Ellerbroek, AECom

March 22-26, ACS National Meeting in Denver—Oil&Gas-Water Nexus

March 25, 4pm, Seminar—Patty Limerick, Center of the American West